This blog is a great opportunity to share ideas about ways to
transform schooling as we know it, to help all students realise their
talents, passions and dreams. Be great to hear from anyone out there! Feel free to add a comment to Bruce's Blog and enter e-mail to receive postings

Schools are supposed to help students master the dominant information
landscape of their time

‘Our new information landscape is digital bits in the ether instead
of ink dots on paper. There is no

foreseeable future in which we go back to
analog. One of schools’ primary tasks is to help students master the dominant
information landscape of their time. Schools are knowledge institutions
preparing students to do knowledge work. So let’s be clear about what our new
information landscape looks like:’

‘Unlike other professional development opportunities, the focus of
these circles is not on lesson plans or pedagogy. Most of the time is spent
working on and discussing a problem that the facilitators bring, with the hope
that teachers will rediscover what they love about math and how it feels to be
a learner.’

‘Nine- and 10-year-old children in England who participated in a
philosophy class once a week over the course of a year significantly boosted
their math and literacy skills, with disadvantaged students showing the most
significant gains, according to a large and well-designed study.’

‘What
is the difference between Piaget's constructivism and Papert’s “constructionism”?
Beyond the mere play on the words, I think the distinction holds, and that
integrating both views can enrich our understanding of how people learn and
grow.’

‘A toxic form of managerialism hit the fan in the mid-80s; and we
lost sight of the kids. These aliens organised and started running testing
factories replacing real people who’d been-there-done-that ,organising schools
of learning and mentoring others on the way. These good guys were cunningly
dominated by absurdists who forced fear-laden testing on kids and have now done
more damage to Australia than the Japanese could ever have done. Fear-laden
swotting of a kind never known before has replaced decent teaching. The load on
small pupils during normal learning time, the likes of which no previous
generation has had to tolerate. is enormous. Kids are still our future, but you
wouldn’t think so.’

‘The
film was about the programmes Gordon Tovey implemented, while under CE Beeby,
as the head of Arts and Crafts in the Department of Education from 1946 until
1966. You may be familiar with the work of Elwyn Richardson at the Far
North school Orauti, which was part of what was known as the Far North project
or experiment. Part of the essence of the experiment was to nurture the
creativity of children and allow them to explore and express themselves. It
was part of the child centred driven philosophy that emerged from the First
World War and the Depression in the first Labour government's education policy
to give children better opportunities.’

‘In
his vision of this third narrative, reformers would focus on creating an
education system that supports inquiry-based, student-centered learning, where
students are encouraged to find entry points into the mandated curriculum in
ways that are meaningful to them. Technology is an integral part of Richardson’s
vision because it allows students to create and demonstrate their knowledge.’

‘Slow learning they believe is essential for our lives and learning
by giving depth to our experiences and providing insight for creativity and
ingenuity. All too often, in contrast, students are rushed through learning to
cover curriculum material. First finished is best seems to be the order of the
day. As a result ‘slow learning’ is neglected in schools.’

Ideas
for schools developing modern or innovative learning environments

For modern learning environments?

Imagine a school where every child would see themselves as an
investor in their own learning. Older children would frequently coach and
mentor younger children. Those who were more advanced in a subject would help
those lagging behind. Children would help teachers design learning programmes,
their parents would be parties to these discussions .The children would see it
as their responsibility to learn in their own time, often using online tools
provided by the school .Although every child would have a personalized learning
plan, most learning would be practiced in groups but these would not be
organized into rigid year groups, class membership would be in part determined
by aptitude and appetite’.